Hello, friend. Feeling overwhelmed? Has a space in your home gotten so out of control it feels like there’s no way it could return to it’s perfectly organized self? Well, even as a Professional Organizer, I feel your pain. That’s right, rooms in my own home can get messy too!!! The lesson is to learn is how to not let it overpower you and win. Let’s all take a deep breath, take charge and take back our spaces!! The morning of the day you plan to take back control, make it a self care morning. Drink your coffee at your leisure, ready your book, workout, etc. Now even though I am not a mother, I know that having a quiet morning is not always possible with kids, but do your best! Going into the morning with as much patience as you can muster up and have a positive outlook on the day will automatically make it better even if you’re following your normal routine. Maybe if it’s on the weekend you can convince the hubby, parents, in-laws or a friend to take the kids ;) Last week I tackled my “out of control room”. I started my morning with my journal, read my book with some coffee & played with my dog. I got ready slowly and danced around to some Christmas music ;) I felt so relaxed and ready to tackle the office/guest bedroom! Below you can see what I was dealing with.

A few months ago I shared the 5 steps to Achieving a More Organized Space. In case you missed it, I’ll do a little refresher (for the full version, click here!).

SortFirst, I sorted. I had a laundry basket in there filled with clean sheets for the unmade bed, I had some things to shred, a pile for all my business stuff, a pile for all of our personal papers that needed to be filed away, luggage, donation items, etc. Go through your space and try to group all your items so that nothing is left. It’s okay to have a pile that you have no idea what you’re going to do with just yet!! Label it “Revisit Later”.

Set in OrderSet in Order can be an extension of sort. I made the bed to get the laundry basket out of the way, I shredded all the papers in the shred pile, and I removed the trash. I went through all my work items and organized the two bins I have for that (I have bins rather than drawers or a filing cabinet because I need to be mobile going from job to job!). I filed away the personal papers (bills, insurance papers, banking information, etc.) that already had files made, and I removed all of Steve’s (our dog) toys out of the room and put them in his designated toy bin in the living room. After doing this step, I could actually see the floor!!

ShineNext step is shine. That room needed a good dusting!! I vacuumed and even decided to rearrange some pieces of furniture so it was good that I got to clean under things that have been there since June!

StandardizeThere were a few bins that needed labeling and new files that needed to be made, so I did that in the standardize step.

Sustain​Now ask yourself, why did it get away from you? For me it was just one thing after another that we had to do. We got busy and to make the rest of the apartment still looking nice, especially when we had company, everything got shoved into that room. The sustaining step for me has been to go in the office/guest bedroom daily and make sure everything is picked up and everything is in it’s spot (now that everything has a spot again!). Make a schedule that works for you to do the same with the space that you’re tackling (daily, weekly, etc). It’s a lot easier to spend 10 minutes every day on the room than hours one day every month!!

After one hour of cleaning and organizing, this is the end result! Now it's time to put things up on the walls :)

The unspoken sixth step is to be proud of your accomplishment and celebrate. Notice the sense of joy of a freshly organized room and carry that with you from day to day :) ​

Good luck!! Take control and Opt for Organization!! Happy organizing friends :)

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Author

Emily has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University. There she learned how valuable organization can be in being productive. She chose to use this knowledge and help others achieve this productivity and optimization in their homes and small businesses. Read & Enjoy and as always, let us know if you have any questions!